No Coward Soul
by Bathyal
Summary: A year later, the three girls who had gotten lost at sea for a whole day the summer before year ten were about to enter year twelve. One of them had won gold in States in competitive swimming, one of them had taken up martial arts, and one formed a small tutoring business with her best friend and his girlfriend. Everything was normal.
1. Chapter 1

_There has been a pod of mermaids at Mako Island for thousands of years. They came from the east, from the Pacific Ocean and further, and, finding the extinct volcano's latent magic, stayed. Former land people, both the western settlers and the natives, soon joined them and their numbers grew_

_It stayed much like this for centuries, with the mermaids living in secret, occasionally joined by a human._

_In 1956, three fifteen-year-old girls found the moon pool. They weren't alone, though, and the human boy with them came dangerously close to discovering the pod. _

_It was then that the council decided they could no longer risk their existence by accepting land people into their pod. They avoided the three new mermaids, and set up defenses around Mako and fortified the ones that were already there. The reefs were sharp enough to tear through a boat's hull, and the pod began raising and taming sharks as guards. No one would come near Mako._

_It worked. Nobody approached the island, and in 2006 when three girls got stuck in the ocean, they waited for the coast guard instead of risking the trip._

_Of course, this didn't scare two teenaged-boys into staying away, and in January of 2008, the moon pool turned its first merperson in over fifty years. The three young mermaids responsible for letting him in were cast out, and the pod left._

_A year later, the three girls who had gotten lost at sea for a whole day the summer before year ten were about to enter year twelve. One of them had won gold in States in competitive swimming at the age of sixteen, and had little time for her childhood friends, too busy training for the Olympics for much else. One of them had taken up martial arts, and taught younger kids every day after school to make a little money to help her through uni; she wasn't going to ask her dad for help. One didn't know what she wanted to do with her life, so she just focused on her schoolwork, forming a small tutoring business with her best friend and his girlfriend. Everything was normal._

Rikki is just walking out of class, gi stuffed in her bag, when Will pulls up in his hunk of junk Subaru and honks at her. She smiles, pulls open the passenger door and throws her backpack into the back, and slides in next to him.

He's technically not supposed to be driving her around without an adult, but much like her, Will's never really cared for rules. He's been like that since they met, when Rikki's neighbor's dog broke its chain and rushed her. Will was on a walk, and hearing the chain snap and Rikki's muttered "shit," jumped the fence and distracted the dog long enough to buy Rikki the time to get back inside.

That was in December. It feels like they've been friends for far longer, the way they can play off each other.

"Class go well?" Will asks as he pulls out of the little shopping complex Rikki's job is at and starts heading south.

"One of the kids was a little shit," Rikki replies. She pulls her half-empty water bottle out of her backpack behind her and unscrews the cap. She had kickboxing before the class, and it's hot in there, so she's still sweating a bit. "He kept refusing to do the katas, and would not sit still."

"Was it Jono?"

Rikki nods and takes a long drink from her bottle, draining it. She's gone on these rants before, so much that Will could probably walk into her class and be able to tell who every kid was, especially Jono. "Calum was surprisingly focused today, though, which I guess is a good thing."

"Most of them are there to learn to stay focused, so I guess you're doing your job right."

Rikki laughs. "God I hope so." They're silent for a while after that, Will focusing on a particularly tricky bit of traffic and Rikki content to just enjoy the silence after an hour with screaming primie students.

"So I found something while I was out swimming," Will says suddenly. He's a free diver, and he finds joy in swimming in the shark-infested waters around Mako Island. Rikki knows it's dangerous, but she can't really find it in herself to care when he gets excited like this. She's scared that one day he's going to wind up dying out there when she thinks about it. It's his decision to risk his life like that though (and it's not like free diving is a particularly safe sport, anyways), so she doesn't say anything.

"Yeah?" Rikki asks. She'll admit she's interested. Whenever he finds something cool enough to bring up, it's usually really interesting. Last time he found something, it was a small silver ring with a rounded blue stone on it, and she wears it almost constantly, taking it off only for martial arts or if she's scared she'll lose it. "What'd you find this time?"

"I wanna wait and tell you and Bella at the same time." Bella's their friend, a girl they met after she stormed out of the Ocean Café and ran into Rikki. She had just applied to sing there, but they already had a girl, and weren't looking to hire another performer at the time. They changed their mind a month later, when something came up in the first singer's life that meant she could only sing about half the time. Bella happily accepted their offer of an audition, and a week later she was working at the café, picking up all of the days the primary singer had to miss.

"Must be important then," Rikki comments. He rarely ever waits to talk about something he's excited about, and Rikki wonders what could possibly be this important to make him wait.

"Hell no," Bella says, looking at the small boat and Will's pleading smile. "We're not going out there, especially in that."

Rikki sits at the helm of the small boat, watching the two of them argue and wondering how Will had managed to rope _her_ into it in the first place. Whatever he found is s something they actually have to go to Mako to see. He explained on the way to Rikki's house, where he told her to get her swimsuit, fins, and a mask. She had learned around the first week of their friendship that when Will gets that look in his eye, it's better to go along with it rather than fight, even though her instincts tell her otherwise.

"Come on," Will pleads. "This is awesome, and I know you don't like going out to sea, but this is worth it."

Bella shakes her head slowly before turning around and walking back up the jetty and towards her bike. "It's not gonna happen, Will," she calls over her shoulder. "Feel free to do it yourself, but I'd rather not get eaten by sharks."

Will looks like he wants to protest, but Rikki interrupts before he can say anything. "Forget it," she says. "She obviously doesn't want to go. You can tell her about it later. Let's just go." Rikki kind of wanted Bella to come with them, but the other girl's notoriously stubborn. There's no way either of them are changing her mind.

"Fine," Will says. He unties the line holding them to the jetty and pushes them off, and Rikki starts the boat and pulls them out of the small marina.

The ocean's relatively calm today, small swells easily cut through as the small boat makes its way to the small island a few kilometers out.

For as long as Rikki's lived on the Gold Coast, no one's ever gone near Mako. It's surrounded by jagged reefs and shark-infested waters. Not even the most adventurous people stay long. A few years ago, Benett tried to tame the island for some hotel or something, but his boats kept running into the reef and sinking. Sharks would tear anchor lines, and there are still a few sunken hulls scattered throughout the reef. No one died, thankfully, but Benett lost a lot of money on it, the greedy bastard.

Rikki's got no idea how Will manages to make it through the reef without running aground.

"Stop here," Will says when they're a good quarter kilometer away. "We're swimming the rest of the way."

"You're serious?" Rikki asks. "We're swimming all the way to shore? What about the sharks?"

Will gives her a look like she's stupid. "They don't mess with anyone who's not an idiot. I mean, surfing or spearfishing? Yeah they might go after you, but we're swimming, and without oxygen tanks at that. Sharks don't mess with the kind of control it takes to do that."

Rikki wants to point out that she probably won't be able to swim that far without an oxygen tank or something, but Will's already pulling out his wetsuit and shimmying into it. Rikki rolls her eyes and pulls out a wetsuit of her own.

Will's gear is a lot like hers, but where she's got a pair of flippers, he brought a monofin, one of the ones he uses for free diving. She asked why he uses it instead of flippers when he's not diving once, and he said that after all these years using one, he's going to kick with both legs at the same time anyways. He might as well use something that gives him a little more power.

Will makes sure the anchor line is secure one more time before he lifts his legs over the side and slides into the water. Rikki follows soon after, and with a last glance at the boat, they take off.

It takes a lot longer than Rikki expected to reach the shore. She's still tired from her class and kickboxing, so they go slower than Rikki imagines Will usually goes. The sun's near the horizon when they finally drag themselves onto to the beach.

"I am never doing that again," Rikki groans. "Never." Her legs are weak, and her arms not much better. She had used them to help her keep up with Will, whose larger fin meant he could go faster with less effort. If she had the money she'd look into getting one of those.

"We still have to swim to the place." Will says. "Sorry."

Rikki moans and lets her head fall into the sand. "Really? This isn't all a big, mean joke?" Her words are muffled by the sand, but still audible.

"Yeah, sorry."

"Stop apologizing," Rikki says, turning over and sitting up. "Let's just go before I die of exhaustion."

This trip is a lot shorter, only about five minutes, and when they surface in an underwater cave, Rikki realizes it was totally worth it.

"This is amazing," she breathes. The cavern is tall and has a lip just out of the water. She can see the newly appearing stars if she tilts her head far enough back. "How did you find this?"

"Funny story, actually," Will says, "I fell down a hole while exploring the island."

"You were on the island? Are you crazy?"

"If I'm crazy, then you are too," Will replies. "You're here with me."

"True," Rikki says before going back to looking at the stars above her. "It's dark. How are we gonna find the boat?"

Will follows her gaze to the stars before swearing and pulling himself onto the side of the little pool. "I don't think we can."

Rikki looks at him. "So what, we're just gonna stay here all night?" She's still treading water in the middle of the pool. She doesn't know why, but she doesn't want to get out.

"I guess so," Will says as he slips his feet back into the water. Suddenly the whole pool lights up and starts bubbling. "Holy shit," Will says as he slides back into the water to join Rikki. "Why do you think it's doing that?"

Rikki looks up. "Probably that," she says, pointing at the moon. It's right over the hole in the cave.

The moon eventually moves, and the bubbling dies down. The two teenagers climb back up onto the side and curl up. It's warm, and even lying on rock and dirt they have no trouble falling asleep.

* * *

><p>Well hello there! I'm Bathyal, and this is my first fic for H2o. Not my first fic ever, (I've been on the site on and off under different names since 2010), but the first one on this account. I'm also posting this on AO3, where I've been for most of the past few years, so apologies if the formatting seems a little clunky. At the time of posting I've got a good four chapters written, and they'll be posted in the next day or two. Reviews and constructive criticism are much-appreciated, so feel free to drop a note.<p>

-Bathyal


	2. Chapter 2

Cam strains against the ropes holding him to the chair. They're expertly tied though (curse Evie and her extensive knowledge of boats), so he eventually gives up struggling and resigns to glaring at his captors. Evie and Zac are sitting across from him, watching to make sure he doesn't actually succeed in escaping. Lyla's leaning in the doorway to Santos' mermaid lair reading a book. Sirena's popped in a few times to check up on them. Nixie's absent.

She's probably still really mad at him. He would be, if it was the other way around. He did betray her and threaten to betray her home, but he just wanted his best friend back. Since getting rid of Zac's powers wasn't really an option, there was only one way left, and that was to become a merman himself. But with his attack on Mako last month still fresh in everyone's memories, there's no way he's getting out there this full moon, and unless they all have a change of heart and decide to forgive him, it won't happen next month either.

Though if he could find a way to distract them long enough for him to slip in…

A timer on Zac's diving watch goes off, and the boy startles.

"Looks like you can go now, Cam," Evie says as she stands up and stretches. She goes to untie him, and about thirty seconds later he's free of the ropes and standing. "Better luck next month, yeah?"

He has no idea how they know that the moon's safely past Mako, but then he remembers Santos' detailed charts. They probably had it timed to the second.

Cam doesn't say anything as he marches upstairs, past a surprised-looking Santos, and out the door. He's got some planning to do.

Zac was an idiot to try to get rid of the gift Cam would kill for.

As expected, there's no one out here at this time of night. It's a Friday, so it's not all that surprising that his parents haven't called him yet, demanding where he is. Zac probably called them, saying they were spending the night at Zac's, which has happened so many times before that his parents don't really question it.

The moon is full and bright above him, and Cam is suddenly struck with the irony of this situation. He remembers when Zac was first turned, how Can had to try to keep him locked up to keep him from being moonstruck. Now he, the human, was the one who was kept under watch with lock and key. Cam just wants to feel the freedom that Zac gushed about, and while the idea of a fate, being the person destined to do something great, is appealing, he would still try to turn even without it. Zac doesn't know how lucky he is.

There's a person sitting on the beach, and in the dark Cam can't tell who it is. He's content to just leave them alone, until he sees them stand up and start walking into the water. Cam knows before the lights start that they're a mermaid, and it can't be anyone but Nixie. Everyone else was at the house.

"Nixie!" Cam calls. Her head's above the water, so he knows that she heard him. She stares at him for a few moments without responding, and then dives.

Damnit! She's long gone by the time Cam gets to the spot where she was sitting. She's mad, he can tell, but he had really underestimated how long she'd be able to hold a grudge. Not everything that happened while they were in cahoots was a plot for him to betray her, no matter what she likes to think. True, he did start with the intent to use her for his own gain, but she proved herself a sharp person with her friends best interests in mind. Had things gone differently, Cam would have loved to get to know her better.

Things didn't go that way, though, and there's nothing Cam can really do about that. He's at a bit of a loss for what to do now. He supposes he could just keep trying to get at Mako, and maybe eventually he'll be successful, but how long would that take? A Year? Maybe more? He's got about a year and a half left of high school; he can't spend every month trying to get to the pool.

There's only one thing he can do. Give up, or at least seem that way. Try to make up with Zac, get back into his regular routine, all the while working to set up something that will keep them occupied next month. Something that'll give him the time to get into Mako and to get out. And maybe if things go well enough, he can even keep that particular surprise from them until he's come up with a way to soften the blow.

It's a good a plan as any. There's only one problem: Cam has no idea what kind of distraction he needs, or how to cook one up.

* * *

><p>This one's very short, but it's extremely relevant for the plot. Whether anyone knows it or not, Cam's pretty much always three steps ahead of everyone. Then again, Who knows what wrenches Rikki and Will will throw into his plans.<p>

-Bathyal


	3. Chapter 3

Will's alarm goes off at six. School doesn't start for another week, but he needs to get back in the swing of things, and that means being used to waking up at six for his morning swim. Sophie would have his head if he missed it.

He slides out of his pajama pants and into a pair of trunks, running a hand through his hair. He'll shower when he gets out.

He's unusually tired. He doesn't remember what time he went to bed last night, but it must have been late. Come to think of it, he can't remember much at all of what happened last night. Couldn't have been anything important, though, not if it wasn't interesting enough to make any sort of lasting impression.

He was with Rikki, though, wasn't he? He picked her up from her class, and… then what?

He dismisses that train of thought.

Sophie never really liked him swimming in the canal outside the boathouse, but he's always done it anyway. It's not as dirty as Sophie likes to say it is, and besides, it's not like he's drinking it.

Will decides to forgo the monofin at first. He just wants to sit in the water. He's not going to try swimming, though. (It feels so…off, to try to swim without one. It makes him feel powerless, something he really doesn't enjoy feeling.)

The water's warm when he slides in, and he just sits here, treading water for a few seconds, before he ducks under the surface and opens his eyes. It's just as murky and uninteresting as usual. Will loves it.

He's about to resurface for a breath when he feels something in his legs. It almost feels like a cramp, and that's what he'd say it is, if not for the bright blue lights surrounding him. He fights to get to the surface now. He can't go out like this; a free diver drowning outside his house because he got some magical cramp in his legs is literally the stupidest way to die.

But then the light dies down, and Will is overcome with a sudden rush of power. He feels like he can swim for miles.

So he does.

He doesn't stop until he's sure he's reached the mouth of the canal that runs in front of his little boathouse. He has to have swum at least that far. But when he looks around, he realizes he's out in open water, at least a kilometer from shore.

It doesn't make sense. How could he have possibly gotten out here? He'd have to be swimming faster than humanly possible.

Will realizes he's treading with both his legs together, like he's wearing a monofin, despite never putting one on. He looks down.

He's got a tail.

He's not nearly as freaked out as he thinks he has the right to be. It's big, blue, and undulating underneath him. It's a part of him. This beautiful, powerful tail is attached to him, and he just swam two kilometers. He could be the best free diver in the world. He can probably hold his breath for a lot longer, too, though his previous record of four minutes thirteen seconds is nothing to scoff at. He could probably beat his old records easily. Sophie will—

Sophie will do what she's always done: use him for money. Who is he trying to kid? He can't keep competing like this.

What if he can't turn back? What if he's stuck with a tail for the rest of his life?

He needs to get back to land.

He speeds away with a new determination, and makes it home in less than fifteen minutes. Sophie's probably still asleep, and God knows his parent's won't be coming down here to check on him any time soon. Will hauls himself up onto the dock.

He didn't get a good chance to properly look at his tail until now. It's a light blue down the center that gets darker towards his sides. He's willing to bet it gets even darker on his back. It's also a lot longer than his legs, making up about two thirds of his body and ending in a broad fluke. Will has no idea why a tail would need to be that long, but hey, at least he's not entirely a fish.

There's a towel just within reach, and Will grabs it in an attempt to dry off. Three minutes into it and he's covered by that blue light again. When it fades he's human again. And he stands up tentatively, then goes inside to get his phone. The same thing could have happened to Rikki, whatever this is. Especially if it's related to his memory blackout.

Mako.

That's right, he wanted to show her the cave he found. Whatever happened to them has to be connected to the island.

Rikki asked Will to meet her at the Ocean Café. It's been their primary hangout since the Juice Net shut down. It's not that bad a place. They've got good food and a nice open sitting area by the water.

Rikki's already there, carefully sipping water through a straw.

"I'm guessing it happened to you too?" she asks as Will sits down. It doesn't take a genius to realize that she's talking about the tail thing. She doesn't seem as shocked about the whole thing as Will expected her to be. She actually seems excited, like she's been supercharged with energy and just wants to let it out.

"This morning," he replies. "I went our for a morning swim and ended up a kilometer from shore."

Rikki gives a low whistle. "I just got hit with a sprinkler. Thank god it was early and no one was around to see me."

"Yeah, that could have been nasty." The entire thing's kind of overwhelming, and the two of them sit in silence for a while. Hell, they're merpeople. Will's allowed to be a little at loss for words.

"How did this even happen?" Will asks after a moment.

Rikki shrugs. "Who knows? Maybe we were born with it and it only manifested now. Maybe it was in something we ate. We've got tails, there's not really a precedent for this. It's not like there's really a science to it or anything." Science. That's it.

"Science to what, guys?" Will nearly jumps straight out of his chair.

Bella slides into one of the empty seats. She must have just come from singing, because she's got her hair in some complicated braid and has a bit of makeup one. All in all, it's a good look for her.

"Music," Rikki offers without skipping a beat. "Will's thinking about taking music theory when school starts up. I don't really get how music has a formula. Isn't supposed to be art?"

Bella must fall for it, because the girls start debating music theory, which Rikki knows a surprising amount about. Will just hopes he doesn't get dragged into it, because if he has to start taking music theory classes because of this, he's screwed. He knows nothing about it except that multiple notes make a chord and that there are melodies and harmonies.

He's honestly better at oceanography. Sciences in general, really. Wait a tic.

"Hey, I just remembered, Sophie wanted me to pick up some stuff for her before she gets back from work. I gotta split." It's a flimsy excuse, but Bella doesn't seem to notice, and Rikki doesn't seem to mind. She motions for him to go, and he stands up and leaves before she can change her mind. She probably thinks it's about the tail thing, and she'd be half right.

The pier isn't all that far from where he is now, just a five minute's walk. Will has no doubt that that's where he needs to go, and figures that if he runs, he'll be there in three and breaks into a sprint. Two and a half minutes later, Will is panting lightly and standing on the pier. There are a few people fishing, and at first Will doesn't thing he's here, but then he sees the familiar bucket hat and shaggy blonde hair.

"Lewis!" he calls.

Lewis turns around, and seeing Will, leans his pole against a post and walks over. "Hey, Will, right?"

They've never really talked. They share a few classes, but not the same friend group. Lewis is probably the smartest person in their entire grade though, if not school, and Will and Rikki are going to need all the help they can get. Will can imagine what Rikki'll say when she finds out (because there'll be no if, not with how determined she is. She'll find out one way or another), how she'll chew him out, but really, it's not her secret he's gambling. "Yeah, listen, I need your help."

"Sure, no problem," Lewis says. "What with?"

There's no one close enough to overhear them, but Will still lowers his voice. "I need to know if you can keep this on the down low."

Lewis looks a little suspicious. "It's nothing illegal, right?" he asks a little too loudly, "'cause if it is I'm out. And I keep telling people I don't know how to cook meth."

"No, no," Will reassures him, deciding to ignore the reference. He doesn't have time to talk about shows. "Nothing illegal, but it isn't exactly anything we want people finding out about."

"What is it?" Lewis asks.

"Not here. I'll show you later, but first I gotta know if you're in. 'Cause once you're in you're in. There's no backing out of this."

"Jesus, it sounds like you're trying to get me to join a cult."

"Nowhere close." Will laughs a little under his breath. "You in?"

Lewis pauses to consider it for a few moments before shrugging. "Sure, what the hell. Definitely beats the crap out of fishing all day."

"Great," Will smiles. "Do you know where I live?"

"Yeah, aren't you down on the canal?"

"Meet me there around four. I'll explain everything then."

Lewis nods. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot," Will shrugs.

"Why me? I'm sure you've got plenty of friends you could ask for help from. No offence but we barely know each other."

"I need someone who knows the ins and outs of marine biology," Will answers. He leans against the wooden railing lining the pier. "I'm kind of out of my depth here, and I was hoping you might be able to help."

"So you want me for my smarts, basically."

"That and your charming personality."

Lewis actually laughs at that before picking up his fishing rod and giving it a sharp tug. "Alright, see you at four."

Will takes that as the end of their conversation and turns to leave. He releases a breath he didn't know he was holding. He could have either made the biggest mistake of his life or gotten one step closer to figuring out what happened last night. He just hopes this gamble pays off.

Lewis keeps his word. He's got nothing with him except what he had at the pier, so he must have stayed there for a few hours before coming over.

Will greets him outside his boathouse. "Glad you didn't back out," he says.

Lewis nods. "After that chilling taste of what's to come I couldn't help myself." He follows Will inside and sets his stuff near the door. "So you want to tell me what exactly I'm getting into here?"

"Are you sure?" Will asks as he fills up two glasses of water. "Last chance to back out."

"Hell no," Lewis says as he accepts the glass of water Will offers him and takes a sip. "Lay it on me."

Will sits down and sighs. He then sticks his finger in his glass of water and waits. If it only took a sprinkler for Rikki to turn, he's got no doubt that a little water on his finger will work. There's no sense in getting water everywhere.

The lightshow starts, and it feels a lot less like a cramp than it did the first time. Maybe because now Will knows what's happening. He braces himself for Lewis' reaction.

"Holy shit," Lewis says softly, and Will looks down at himself. For some reason his shirt's disappeared, and his tail is sprawled over the coffee table. "What the hell?"

"Happened this morning, too," Will explains. "I think it's got something to do with Mako. I was there last night, and I think something happened that did this." Will takes his finger out of the glass and wipes it on a towel. The lights start up, and soon he's human again, sitting on his couch like he never sprouted a tail in the first place.

Lewis just stares for a while before a grin spread over his face. "Crap," he says. "This is awesome."

* * *

><p>Here we go, the tail reveal. Lewis wasn't originally supposed to come in until much later, but it felt like the story was moving too slowly with all of these changing perspectives. For future reference, there'll be chapters in which another character is doing something outside of the perspective character's awareness that won't come in until later, and there will also be chapters that happen in synch with other chapters. I'll try to keep everything in order, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

The air is unusually cool and crisp this morning, and Evie loves it. It's not raining, so she decides to walk rather than bike to the beach. It's not like she needs to be anywhere urgently; Zac can wait a little bit for his breakfast.

She's not bringing Cam anything.

She's not really sure what she thinks of Cam at this point. With last night's theatrics, she highly doubts he's given up on becoming a merman, but she wasn't really involved with much. She was just Cam's unwitting tool, something she probably won't forgive him for, but she wasn't involved in Zac and the mermaids' planning, or much of anything, really.

She's nowhere near impartial, though. Cam stepped way out of bounds, there's no doubt, and even though she still kind of wishes Zac had never fallen into the moon pool almost a year ago, Evie's got to admit that he's been more energized in the past year than she's ever seen him. She's happy for him.

That he still insists on lifesaving worries her, though. The threat of exposure at the beach is a real one.

That's where it got interesting, though, because Cam protested Zac going back. Maybe it was just an underhanded attempt to keep Zac from watching him at all hours, but there's something about his concern that seems very real.

"Evie!" Evie snaps out of her thoughts. Across the street, Emma's waving at her. Evie smiles and looks before crossing the street to meet her.

Emma started lifesaving with Zac and Cam in December at the behest of her mom. She's an amazing swimmer, on track to be in the next Olympics, if Evie's not mistaken. She moaned about it for the first week, but eventually got into it. She mostly handles water rescue, which is great for Zac's cover.

"On your way to the beach?" Evie asks, adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

Emma nods. Her hair is damp and pulled back into a low ponytail. She must have just come from swimming. "Yep," she says cheerfully. "I don't start for another hour, but I don't think they'll mind."

Evie nods in agreement. If there's anything they like having at the beach, it's an extra pair of hands. "I'm headed down there myself," she gestures to her bag. "Mind if I walk with you?" They're already walking together, but there's no harm in asking. She wants to stay on Emma's good side, after all.

"Sure," Emma says. She's a nice girl, if a bit distant. They share a few classes, and occasionally they'll study together if there's a particularly big test coming up, but Evie doesn't know that other girl all that well.

"Are you excited for school to start back up soon?" Evie asks. It's awkward, and Evie's sure Emma notices, but thankfully the blonde doesn't mention it.

"Sort of," Emma shrugs. "I'm not excited for the work that'll come with it, but it'll be nice to see everyone again.

Evie's about to say something about hanging out during summer, but then she remembers that Emma doesn't have much of a social life outside of swimming. She's close to all of her teammates, but her other relationships have frayed noticeably. Evie remembers back in year 9, when Emma and Cleo, another girl in their grade who runs a tutoring business with her two best friends, were inseparable. Then Emma's swimming career took off, and they started hanging out less.

Though maybe it was for the best, because Cleo's kept Evie from failing a few really tough tests a couple times.

"I for one am thrilled," Evie comments. "I can't wait to stop working for my dad for a few months until breaks. Dealing with customers is tiring."

"I can only imagine," Emma laughs. "Remind me again why you do that?"

Evie shrugs. "It gets me a bit of pocket money. Plus it's easier working for my dad than the alternative. I don't have to call in sick."

"That's true," Emma admits.

They reach the beach, scorching yellow sand meeting them at the end of the sidewalk. Zac and Cam are there, as expected, but they're not watching the water, or even the beach. They're talking to each other in hushed voices. Evie can't hear a thing

Emma rushed away with a wave to the shower house to change as soon as they reached the beach, so Evie's alone, and she's extremely curious.

The boys are standing next to a patch of sea oats, which is perfect cover. Evie isn't exactly silent, but the sound of the surf and beachgoers are enough to keep her hidden. It also probably helps that Zac and Cam keep sending nervous glances towards the water, like someone's going to drown while they aren't there.

"Look," Zac sighs as he turns back to Cam. "I dunno about it. You haven't really been the best mate ever recently." What's 'it'? Is Cam trying to convince Zac to do something he doesn't want to do? Oh, if Cam thinks he can get away with manipulating Zac, he's got another thing coming. Not from Zac, obviously, because the boy's gullible and as thick as a brick, adorable as he is, but from her. Evie's got a ridiculous protective streak, and Cam should know by now not to mess with that.

"I know." Cam's exasperated, and not in the fake way he's so good at using. Evie's known him long enough to be able to tell the difference. It worries her. "I've been a shitty friend, and I deserve everything you're saying. It's just—I miss you, man. I miss the way things were back then, before any of this merman shit ever happened."

"You mean before you tried to kill Lyla and the others and destroy the moon pool?" Yes, good one, Zac. Tear him a new one. Don't fall for his cunning. Evie may or may not be silently geeking out at the prospect of Zac winning a verbal battle against someone like Cam, who's a master at convincing people.

"I," Cam hesitates, which is very unlike him. Either this is a ridiculously elaborate ruse, or he's actually trying to apologize to Zac. Holy crap. "How many times have I said I'm sorry?"

"Not enough," Zac murmurs. "I'm sorry," he apologizes, straightening. "I can't trust you yet."

They just sort of stand there having a mild stare-off. It's weird, and Evie wonders not for the first time why she has to be the one to deal with all this weirdness.

"I'm sorry too." Cam says after a while, and he turns around and walks back towards the lifeguard stand. There's a slump in his shoulders that almost makes him look like another person entirely.

Evie doesn't know what that conversation means, but she does know that Zac and Cam are brothers, in a loose sense of the word, and eventually Zac's going to forgive him. It could be either good or bad, but regardless, it's inevitable. Zac reluctantly follows Cam back to the beach.

Something tickles her ankle, and Evie realizes she's still crouching in the sea oats and stands up. She makes her way back onto the clean sand, earning a weird look from Emma, now in her swim suit, but she ignores it.

"Zac!" she calls, and Zac nearly falls off the stand with how fast he turns around. Evie holds up the plastic bag. "I've got food!"

"Something's up with them," David says as he dries his hands on a towel and leans against the Ocean Café's counter. The blond is a lot more perceptive than Evie originally gave him credit for, but he's still dense if he's only noticing now that there's something weird about Lyla, Sirena, and Nixie. Evie noticed on their first day here, how they didn't really mesh well into society. She originally would have brushed it off as cultural differences, but they spoke perfect English, and there wasn't any accent Evie could detect.

And then they tried to pay with Spanish escudos and kept stalking her and her boyfriend, and Evie couldn't ignore it any longer.

David was spared from the most of their oddities, and him being head-over-heals for Sirena probably helped blind him for those two weeks where everything got a little dicey.

So Evie's a bit surprised when David points out the Mermaid Trio whispering in the far corner. It looks like something is wrong, and with a quick look around the café floor to make sure it's slow enough for her to leave her post, Evie walks over to them.

"What's wrong?" she asks.

Nixie immediately goes on the defensive. "What makes you think something's wrong?" There's a small twitch in her lip that gives away that she's hiding something, though Evie didn't need the confirmation.

"Look," Evie hisses. She's got no time to play mind games with mermaids. "Even David can tell something's up, so you can either tell me and I can help cover for you, or you can ignore the fact that you're practically broadcasting it across the café."

The three mermaids share glances as if debating whether or not to trust her.

"Nixie was out swimming last night," Sirena starts. Nixie glares at the other girl like she wants to wring her neck, but doesn't say anything in protest. So Sirena continues. "She was out at Mako at around the apex, when she felt these sort-of shock waves come from the island."

"And that means…?" Jeez, it's like they forget she's not privy to all their mermaid secrets.

"It means that someone else fell into the moon pool last night," Lyla explains. "The same thing happened with Zac."

Evie isn't sure what to do with this information. "Have you told Zac yet?"

Lyla shakes her head. "We were going to, but Cam was there, and we don't want to risk him knowing." Evie doesn't remember the last time she saw Lyla be cautious in any way. The mermaid tends to run headlong into things. She's stubborn as a mule and very much a rule follower, as long as the rules benefit her. She's a lot of things, but cautious isn't one of them.

"It's probably for the best he doesn't know yet," Evie concedes. "He'll just run off and try to befriend whoever it is, and the last thing we need around here is more merpeople." She meant it as a sort-of jab, but only Nixie seems to take it that way. "Do we know anything about them?"

"Nothing," Nixie says. "I didn't think anyone besides teenage boys were stupid enough to try to get past all of Mako's defenses, but I guess I was wrong."

"That does narrow it down some, though," Lyla adds. "Who's ballsy enough to go to Mako? And who would stay there long enough to find the ground entrance to the moon pool?"

It's a question that'll have to be left for later, though, because David's waving Evie over. "I'll tell Zac when I get the chance." She bids the mermaids a quick goodbye and goes to see what David wants.

"I know it's not your job," David starts, "but do you think you could go help Bella pack up since it's not that busy?"

It's not like she has that much to do anyway.

"Sure thing, just let me shoot a quick text to Zac." It's honestly a marvel that the mermaids haven't gotten the hang of texting yet. Then again, Evie's not entirely sure they can read, much less use a smartphone. Still, it would make communication so much easier, so maybe it's worth the headache of teaching a group of teenage mermaids how to read.

**Evie: Hey, nixie told me some stuff was going on at the pool yesterday, something about new club members. Talk to them about it when you get the chance though because I don't get off until six**

**_Read _**_1:37 PM_

Typical Zac. He's always doing this, reading her messages and then forgetting to reply to them. But then her phone buzzes.

**Cam: np, eves ;)**

Holy shit. Holy shit, no. Evie rushes to delete the message, but the damage is already done. Cam knows about what happened last night, and it's entirely her fault.

Bella clears her throat from across the room, and Evie remembers she's got a job to do. She can't do anything about Cam now, so there's no use in worrying about it. She's so busy telling herself this while she's carrying speakers that she doesn't notice one Rikki Chadwick walk into the Ocean Café and order a water, with a straw preferably.


	5. Chapter 5

Charlotte Watsford has known about mermaids since she was little. The stories were told to her by her great aunt Lu, who would spin marvelous tales of underwater realms and three girls who felt like they were alone in the world. This is why she wasn't all that disappointed when her mother announced they'd be moving to the Gold Coast for her job. They'd be in the same town as Aunt Lu, and not to mention Charlotte was dying to get away from Adelaide's ridiculously hot summers. She hasn't changed her mind once in this past year.

And why should she? She's got an amazing life here, with a brilliant boyfriend and amazing best friend and their shared tutoring business that's slowly been gaining popularity among the lower years. It helps that Cleo's sister, Kim, has been singing Charlotte's praises ever since she helped the younger girl pass her year 8 finals. The small income is a bonus.

She's got a perfect life, so when something isn't perfect, she notices.

Lewis is preoccupied.

They're working on a summer project for biology, and Lewis keeps getting sidetracked. Charlotte tried to ignore it at first, but he keeps missing her questions and asking her to repeat himself. He always closes out of whatever he's looking at before she can see it, and she doesn't want to pry, but she kind of really wants to pry.

"Look, if you're not going to focus, why don't we just do this later?" she asks an hour into their study session. Lewis looks a little surprised, like he didn't realize he was being so obvious.

"What?" he asks, setting his laptop aside. "No, I'm engaged." He claps his hands and rubs them together. "What are we doing?"

At least he's trying, but at this point Charlotte doesn't feel up to it. She's tired, and Lewis' enthusiasm is so obviously faked that she just wants to call it quits and go to bed. Maybe doodle a bit first.

"I'm just gonna go home," she says as she stands up. "I'm not really feeling up to this right now."

"Do you feel okay?" The Ocean Café is loud, people talking and laughing and generally having a good time. It's summer, and most of them would think Lewis and Charlotte were crazy for doing schoolwork now.

"I'm fine, I've just got this headache and I have a project for CA due the first day we get back that I should look over one more time." Charlotte rubs her head for effect. She really does have a project for CA due, and it's the only class she has that she doesn't share with Lewis or Cleo.

Cleo might know what's keeping Lewis so preoccupied.

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow," Lewis says. He pulls open his laptop as soon as he thinks she's out of sight, but Charlotte's paying attention. She wants to know what's interesting Lewis more than her.

She only catches a glimpse of it, but it's enough for her to get the gist of what he's looking at. There are pictures, after all. Not terribly accurate pictures, but pictures nonetheless.

She needs to find Aunt Lu, now.

Louise Chatham's house is a small one a little ways from a beach. It's not a very popular beach, because the sand is course and gets really hot on sunny days, but that doesn't really matter to Louise. She's there for the water, and the fact that it's relatively isolated. She used to live on her boat, the Lorelei, but after an accident involving a jet ski, she had to move. Thankfully, Annette was more than happy to help her find a new place to live.

When Annette and Charlotte moved to the Gold Coast, Louise was happier than she'd been in years. She hadn't seen her goddaughter and her daughter in what felt like forever, and seeing Charlotte after so long, the same age as Louise was when her life was changed, brings back so many wonderful memories.

Gracie died almost forty years ago, now, and Louise hasn't heard from Julia in years. For all Louise knows, she'd dead, too, and Louise is the last one left.

She's done her best to keep it that way, too. Charlotte doesn't need to be a mermaid, she doesn't need that kind of stress, and Mako is far too dangerous for any human to get to. Louise and her friends only went there once, on the night they were turned into mermaids, and haven't been able to get back since.

Louise sometimes wonders what would happen if she went there on a full moon, if the pool would take her powers as easily as it gave them. Sometimes she wonders what her life would be like if she didn't life the entirety of her adult life constantly avoiding water. Gracie had wanted that.

Louise promised her that she would take care of Annette. When Gracie died, Louise had been heartbroken, but she had to be strong. She had little Annette depending on her, and she was really what pulled Louise though. Well her and having to focus on keeping Annette away from Max. He wasn't the girl's father, but he thought that he was, and there was a very tiring legal battle between them for custody. Louise was eventually able to find the man that was Annette's father and convince the judge to give her custody because the man didn't want her, but those months beforehand were extremely stressful.

It was tough after that, but definitely worth it. Annette is a wonderful girl, eager to learn and with a fierce determination that rivals her late mother's.

Louise likes living alone, because whenever someone knocks on her door, it's always a wonderful surprise.

Charlotte's face makes her think the opposite, though. The girl is panting, having just run a long distance from wherever she was to here. (Everything's a long distance from Louise's house.) She looks worried, more so than she's ever been.

"Aunt Lu," she pants. "How are you?"

Instead of answering, Louise lets Charlotte come inside and offers her a glass of ice water. "What's the matter?" They sit down on Louise's couch, which is older than Charlotte it.

"Lewis knows."

Louise knows Charlotte's boyfriend very well. The first time Charlotte brought Lewis over to meet her, he was fascinated by her large collection of rare shells, a collection she's been working on ever since she got custody of Annette. Louise eagerly described the creature that use to live in every shell, where it was from, and how old it was. He stayed enraptured for as long as Louise talked. He's a good boy, if a bit too curious for his own good.

There are hundreds of things Louise can think of that Charlotte doesn't want Lewis to know. There's only one that will send Charlotte running here, to Louise.

"He knows about me?" she asks. To Louise's surprise, Charlotte shakes her head. What could it be, then?

"He doesn't know about you specifically, but he's been researching mermaids like crazy. I think he knows they exist, but not about you specifically."

Louise breathes a sigh of relief. "You've got to be careful," she warns. "Lewis is a nice boy, but you don't know what he's doing. Keep an eye on him, but don't be too worried." Louise doesn't think it's anything too serious. Lewis is probably just curious about mythical creatures.

"You weren't there, Aunt Lu," Charlotte argues. "He was so focused on his screen that he barely knew I was there. I'm worried."

Louise sighs. "Alright, I trust you. Just be careful.

Charlotte nods. She's still really worried, Louise can tell, so she gets up off her couch and goes to the kitchen. What they both need is tea.

Charlotte's been on edge all day the next day, and she almost feels guilty for not trusting Lewis. He's been stopping in the middle of their conversations for no apparent reason and rushing off to God-knows-where. She didn't follow him the first time, too concerned for her family's secret to risk getting caught, but now his near-constant disappearances are starting to get annoying, and Charlotte just wants to know what's going on, even if it's none of her business.

If he's going somewhere to talk to someone about mermaids, then that makes it Charlotte's business. She may not have a tail, but she comes from a family of mermaids, and protecting that secret is a lot easier for her than it is for Aunt Lu, who can't even take walks without water resistant clothing for fear of getting hit with a sprinkler.

Charlotte's always been pretty good at avoiding people's gazes, so it's no trouble for her to follow Lewis. He's not even trying to avoid being followed; it's pretty ridiculous.

Lewis leads her down to the water, on a relatively isolated, rocky stretch of beach that Charlotte recognizes as his favorite fishing spot. She almost loses him in the rocks, but as she scales on of the boulders, she catches sight of his blonde hair.

He's talking to someone, alright, but Charlotte can't see who it is from this angle, so she climbs a little bit higher.

She thinks she recognizes him, but that doesn't give her much. She sees so many different people at school that she can pick them out in a crowd, though she's never really been good at putting names to the faces.

The boy Lewis is talking to is laying on his stomach for some reason, like he's laying right where the waves touch the sand. His shorts must be soaked—oh wow.

In her hundreds of stories, Aunt Lu has never said anything about mermen. Charlotte's not even sure Aunt Lu knows they exist, but they obviously are if Charlotte's not crazy. He must have turned on Mako, because Aunt Lu never mentioned any other way to get a tail, and even if she can't remember his name, Charlotte knows she's gone to school with this boy ever since she moved here, and she's seen him get splashed quite a few times.

His tail is long and blue, not too hard to see in the water, and the tips occasionally flick water up into the air. Charlotte has no idea what they're talking about; she's too enraptured by the merman's tail to pay attention.

There's suddenly a loud crack, and the small foothold that Charlotte is standing on breaks. The air is knocked out of her as she falls on her back, and she's still getting up when Lewis rounds the corner. He offers her a hand up.

"What did you see?" he asks calmly, but Charlotte can tell that he's freaking out internally. She wonders if the merman is still on the beach, or if he left while Charlotte was distracted and she didn't hear him go.

"I saw enough," she shrugs, "but to be honest I've known about mermaids, or merpeople I guess, pretty much all my life." She's getting dangerously close to exposing Aunt Lu, so she switches the topic. "What about you?"

"I've known for a couple days," Lewis says.

"I'm guessing that's what you were so occupied with?"

Lewis nods.

The merman walks round the corner then, completely dry and free of any scales, just like Aunt Lu said.

"Nice to meet you," Charlotte says, sticking her hand out. "I'm Charlotte."

The merman looks wary but still takes her hand. "Will," the merman answers. "We've got Maths together." He's right, and now that Charlotte can put a name to the face, she knows exactly who he is.

"Mako, right?"

The former free diver looks slightly taken aback, and Lewis looks confused. It's likely that Will hasn't told Lewis about the island yet, but there's no other place he could have turned.

"I know a lot," Charlotte explains.

"Great, then you can help us." Lewis looks so eager that Charlotte can't say no, no matter how dangerous it is. What's that phrase? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer? Not that Lewis is her enemy, and Will seems like a cool guy, but Aunt Lu is right. She needs to keep an eye on them.

"Sure," she says. "Why not?"

* * *

><p>I've known I wanted to do something with Charlotte for a while now, but I wasn't sure exactly how to write her character not being a villain. Also, Louise is still a mermaid because of the fortifications around Mako. She and the other two '56 mermaids mostly kept away from Mako, and as a result Louise doesn't know much about it. This means Charlotte's knowledge of mermaids has some pretty big gaps, but she'll be learning alongside Lewis and Will. Julia is also most likely dead.<p>

-Bathyal


	6. Chapter 6

Lyla wasn't in the water when the boom that would have alerted any surrounding mermaids to a newcomer, had there been any surrounding mermaids, was released. She was watching Cam, making sure he wouldn't be the one to set that boom off. She wasn't sure if it was better to have an unknown in the mix than Cam. On one hand, Cam was dangerous. He was very willing to try to destroy them, something that may not be true with a wayward human who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But they knew what he wanted, how he operated. They didn't even know who the new mermaid, or seas forbid, merman, even was. They were an unknown.

While she was guarding Cam, Lyla thought Nixie was weak for not facing him. She understood, but still. He was tied up, and she didn't even have to look at him. Nixie was never one to be hurt by mere words. It turned out to be a good thing in the end, though. They would have never known if Nixie hadn't been in the water when the unknown human was turned.

Ten minutes after Cam left, with murder in his eyes but resignation in his gait, Nixie came into Rita's pool room in a rush, her wake sloshing up over the edge and narrowly missing everyone.

"We need to get to Mako, now."

No one questioned her order./p

"There was a shock wave," she explained. "I was out around the island, and I felt it. Someone fell into the moon pool."

Lyla didn't know how to react. A few months ago, she would have been angry. She would have raged against Nixie for being so careless, against Cam for occupying her when she should be guarding her home, against Zac for keeping her on land for so long, for making her lazy and complacent. She was older now, and maybe a little bit wiser.

She still panicked.

They found nothing after a few hours of looking, and they had training with Rita in the morning, so they went home. They haven't searched since. Lyla is itching to get into the water. The more time they waste sitting around and not finding the intruder, the more time that intruder will have to gat a hang of their tail. Their only chance at this point is to catch them before they have a chance to really experiment with their powers.

Sirena voiced her too-optimistic hope that maybe the intruder was just one person, and a girl. The pod hasn't accepted newcomers in Lyla's lifetime, but in every story she's heard, it's always been a girl human that the pod extended their welcome to. While their track record with human girls hasn't exactly been the best, at least there is one, unlike with boys. Had Zac been a girl, Lyla has no doubt the pod wouldn't have left. Still, there's a very good chance that the intruder was male, and a decent chance there was more than one of them. Sirena can be hopeful all she wants, but Lyla's going to prepare for the worst.

"We should be out there," Lyla whispers to Nixie, who's sitting between her and Sirena. The three of them are at the Ocean Café, inside due to the heat.

"I agree," Nixie says, sipping from her strawberry virgin daiquiri, "but Rita said we need to be patient."

"Why are we even listening to her? She's been on land for years, and she's not even part of the pod."

"Neither are we," Sirena says softly, "But Rita's given us good advice before."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Lyla huffs. "Sit around doing nothing?"

"We wait," Nixie says. "We wait and see what they do. If they make themselves a problem, then we go after them. They might just be content to keep it hidden and occasionally go out. If they don't reveal themselves, we'll be fine."

"And what if they try to take over Mako, are we just going to let them?" Lyla honestly can't believe what the other two are saying. Since when did any of them ever take something lying down?/

"Then we fight," Nixie's just about done with her daiquiri, and she tilts her glass to get the last drops up her straw. "But chances are they don't know anything about our culture. Unless they've got someone who knows their stuff helping them, we're fairly safe."

"I still think we should be out there," Lyla grumbles. Nixie's got good points, she usually does, but still, if they're out there and they do come across the intruder, who may be just a naïve kid, they can tell them whatever they want, and keep them from trying to go against the island.

Lyla doesn't expect Evie to walk up to them. She usually keeps her nose out of their business, which she should. She's just Zac's girlfriend. She doesn't know anything about them or their culture, or anything they're trying to help Zac with. She's basically glorified emotional support.

"What's wrong?" Evie asks. She looks more annoyed than concerned. Whatever. The three of them have a right to be here, and unless they do something really bad, Evie can't kick them out.

Nixie immediately goes on the defensive. "What makes you think something's wrong?" There's a small twitch in her lip that gives away that she's hiding something. She's never been the best at lying, even Lyla knows that. Nixie and Sirena were always getting into trouble with the pod. The only reason they never knew about her excursions to land was because they never asked.

"Look," Evie hisses. She's mad now, and Lyla kind of wants to take it as a challenge, but she can feel Sirena's hand on her knee, grounding her. "Even David can tell something's up, so you can either tell me and I can help cover for you, or you can ignore the fact that you're practically broadcasting it across the café." Lyla hazards a quick glance around the café. People are looking at them. They haven't had this much trouble blending in since their first week. People have mostly forgotten how weird they seemed when they first showed up.

Sirena looks at her, then at Nixie, and nods.

"Nixie was out swimming last night," Sirena starts. Nixie glares at her, but doesn't say anything in protest. So Sirena continues. "She was out at Mako around the apex, when she felt these sort-of shock waves come from the island."

"And that means…?" Lyla knows Sirena knows that Evie doesn't know what she's talking about. Sirena is stalling for time to come up with the right way to say things, and Lyla couldn't be more proud of her.

"It means that someone else fell into the moon pool last night," Lyla explains, catching her friend. There's no use in lying. "The same thing happened with Zac."

"Have you told Zac yet?" Like they need to tell Zac everything they do. He's not their keeper. Still, Evie's not going to take that explanation well.

"We were going to, but Cam was there, and we don't want to risk him knowing." Lyla can see Evie dissecting her words, and the other girl is suspicious.

"It's probably for the best he doesn't know yet," Evie concedes. "He'll just run off and try to befriend whoever it is, and the last thing we need around here is more merpeople." Nixie takes offence at this, but Lyla thinks Evie's right. Sirena would do the same thing, and she's only recently been convinced otherwise. "Do we know anything about them?"

"Nothing," Nixie says. "I didn't think anyone besides teenage boys were stupid enough to try to get past all of Mako's defenses, but I guess I was wrong." Unless it was another teenage boy.

"That does narrow it down some, though," Lyla adds. "Who's ballsy enough to go to Mako? And who would stay there long enough to find the ground entrance to the moon pool?" All signs point to a teenager or some kind of scientist. No one else would give the island enough time to find anything.

David calls for Evie to help him move stuff, and she gives the mermaids a quick goodbye. "I'll tell Zac when I get the chance."

"We should get out of here," Nixie suggests. "I want to ask Rita some questions."/

Across the room, Evie's eyes widen and her hands start shaking, looking at her phone. No one except a blonde in the corner notices.

"I'm out," Nixie says, standing. Sirena looks at the other girl in confusion, and Nixie discreetly nods her head towards Evie.

"I'll catch up with you," Lyla says. Nixie shrugs and heads out, Sirena on her tail.

The café is decently busy, with groups of teenagers at almost every table, chatting amongst themselves. If Lyla's hunch is right, one of them could be the intruder. Maybe the dark girl in the corner, or the blonde with a glass of water. Maybe even one of the boys talking loudly in the center of the room.

With a sigh, Lyla stands up, pays for her drink, and leaves.

They've been out here for hours, and they haven't seen a single sign of the intruder. They're either really good at hiding, really lucky, or not coming out here. Lyla supposes it's possible, that whoever it was in the pool just wants to go on with their life and doesn't want to have to deal with this. She doesn't know why anyone would, though. The tail is a gift, one Lyla's been fortunate enough to have all her life.

"Are you sure someone got turned?" Zac asks when they've surfaced. He wasn't there on the outside when he turned; he's got no idea how unmistakable the shock wave is.

"Positive," Nixie urges. "I'm going back down." Again, Sirena follows her. (That girl has got to get her own life.)

Lyla and Zac tread water silently for a while. Evie is on land with Cam, simultaneously looking for anything suspicious and keeping an eye on the boy. Not that it's even remotely possible that he's involved with this. He was tied up at the time of the full moon, and Zac's been keeping en eye on him. He hasn't talked to anyone they Zac doesn't know since that night.

"How're you doing?" Zac eventually asks.

"What do you mean?"

Zac shrugs. "You were pretty freaked out when I fell into the pool and got you all banished. I can't imagine what this is like."

"I'm fine."

She's lying. In all honestly, Lyla is freaking out. She hasn't quite accepted that the pod isn't coming back, that there's nothing they can do about Zac. Maybe, just maybe, they could have explained the whole Zac fiasco away, maybe even convince them to let him join, but not anymore. They have no way to blame Mako's strange magic for this. Someone should have been at the island. Lyla should have been at the island. Zac and Evie had Cam handled, Sirena as backup. Nixie was emotionally compromised. Lyla didn't need to be there, she could have been watching the island.

For one of the first times in millennia, no one was guarding Mako on the night of the full moon, and a human got in.

Lyla knows she's being harsh on herself. Cam was the biggest threat at the time, and they had no way to know what was happening.

It's still her fault.

"I'm fine," she says again. It's still a lie; it will never not be a lie, but if there's one thing Lyla's good at, it's lying.

(Edit: March 4, 2015: Wooh, no clue what happened there with the formatting. Super wonky.)


	7. Intermission 1

Sometimes, he loves being the devious sort. It's a wonderful feeling when something you've been planning for a while finally falls into place, little nudges in certain places coming together in just the right way to make everything happen just as scripted. Of course, Rikki and Will were a bit of a surprise, but definitely not an unwelcome one. They actually made things a lot easier. Now he had more options, more flexibility.

The group isn't small, three merpeople and two human, one of whom has a bit of experience with this sort of stuff, but they're all so inexperienced. He's going to wait for them to gather themselves and figure out how it all works before he reveals himself.

And with a merman, Zac won't know what hit him./span/p

Sorry about the wait for the last chapter! I've had a lot on my plate with classes and college apps and stuff, not to mention exams, but with season 2 of Mako released today, I figured now would be a good time to get back into the swing of things. I may or may not decide to have season two's new characters in this; I've got a solid grasp on the plot all the way to the end, but who knows? (Also I've seen like seven episodes and I'm not totally confident on my characterization of Ondina, Mimmi, and Eric yet, sooo...)

Thanks for being so patient, guys!

(Edit: March 4, 2015: fixed whatever was up with the formatting)


	8. Chapter 7

Zane won't leave him alone.

Lewis isn't trying to fool anybody by being Zane's friend. He knows the guy is self-centered and greedy, but they've been friends for ages. Lewis knows Zane is a good guy deep down, but with Zane's entire friend group leaving over the course of the past half-year, Lewis is the last one left.

"Look," Lewis says one day. "I get it. You're lonely, but I've got my own life, and I can't be hanging around with you all the time."

Zane doesn't act hurt, he never does. He just laughs, calls Lewis an uptight prick, and wanders off somewhere to do who-knows-what.

It's been days since then, and Zane's been texting him nearly non-stop, which is not good for Lewis' data plan. He hasn't got unlimited texts, so he has to reply every five or so.

"Who's blowing up your phone?" Will asks one day when the two of them, Rikki, and Charlotte are on the beach, Charlotte trying to piece together old stories to give Rikki a bit of background to help her develop her powers, which have already ruined four of David's smoothies.

Lewis shakes his head and shoves his admittedly outdated phone back into his pocket. "Zane."

"That jerk?" Will asks. He realizes a moment too late it might have been a bit insensitive if the look on his face is anything to go by, but Lewis just shrugs.

"Yeah. He thinks we're friends." And it's true that they were friends once upon a time, but things are different now. It's insulting how Zane thinks he can just pick their friendship up out of the dirt, brush it off, and pretend they weren't anything except best friends. "So I'm thinking maybe it's just water that causes the change. Maybe if you've got Vaseline or something on your skin you won't grow a tail?"

Will seems to take this as the 'okay we're done with this topic' Lewis intended it to be, and they go on talking about possible ways to delay the transformation long enough to get out of a social situation. Ten seconds isn't long, and any advantage Lewis can give Will and Rikki will help. He's grateful he's not in their shoes. You can't be a marine biologist and work around water all day if getting even a drop of water on you will reveal you as a scientific impossibility. The scientific community doesn't take magic as an explanation for anything.

"Hey guys?" Rikki calls from a tide pool as she stands up. "I'll be right back. I'm gonna go do something." She doesn't bother waiting for anyone to acknowledge her before she turns around and runs into the water.

Between Rikki and Will, Rikki is definitely the one who enjoys her tail the most. It's starting to affect her grades, how much time she spends in the ocean, but Lewis only knows that because she's told him as explanation as to why she needs his help in maths all of a sudden.

That's not to say that Will hates being a merman; on the contrary, he adores it, but it's thrown a wrench in his freediving career, and by extension, in his relationship with his sister. Sophie's practically disowned him, and Will has had to focus a lot harder on school now that being a professional athlete is out of the question.

"Do you guys have any theories yet?" Charlotte asks she sits down next to Lewis on the sand. She's taken all of this, well, swimmingly. She's got a knack for remembering all the little details her aunt has told her, even ones Ms. Chatham herself doesn't remember anymore. She seems content to help Rikki and Will figure things out, but in quiet moments Lewis catches her staring out to sea and he knows she wishes it were her.

"We're thinking maybe an oil-based skin cream might buy a little time. It won't do anything if one of them falls in, but it should work against a small splash or something like that."

Charlotte nods. "It sounds like it might work. I'll have to see what I have laying around."

Will looks like he's going to say something, but whatever it was is lost when Rikki calls up to them from the water. She hasn't been gone all that long, so she must have gone to Mako, which Lewis can see out in the water.

"Can you guys come down here?"

They make their way down towards the waterline, Lewis trying not to trip over anything, Will avoiding the tide pools like the plague, and Charlotte walking through and over everything in her way.

"What's up?" Will asks, and then a second head surfaces next to Rikki.

Lewis isn't sure who it is, but Will apparently does, because as soon as the second girl's face registers, he takes a step back, trips over a rock behind him, and lands on his butt in a tide pool he had been so well avoiding.

"Bella?" he asks just before he's overcome with the familiar blue lights of his transformation.

It turns out that Bella has been giving Rikki mermaid lessons ever since she found out the other girl was a mermaid. It explains Rikki's control.

"How long have you been a mermaid?" Charlotte asks Bella. The five of them are at the Ocean Café, outside where the sound of the water and seagulls and other patrons covers up their conversation. The café's busy, which makes it the perfect place to talk. Not as perfect as somewhere private, but Lewis can appreciate Charlotte's logic in picking this place.

"I was nine," Bella starts. "My family's always moving because of my mom's job, and we were in Ireland. My parents weren't home, so I decided to go exploring. That's when I found the cave."

"So you've been a mermaid for almost ten years?" Will asks.

Bella nods. "It took a while to get used to, and I've almost gotten caught a lot, but I wouldn't change it for the world." Her enthusiasm matches Rikki's and Lewis can see why they're such good friends.

"Hey Lewis!" Zane's walking up the jetty towards them, hand in one pocket and the other raised in greeting.

Lewis quietly groans, saying "I'll be right back," under his breath before plastering the most realistic smile he can mange and going to meet Zane. "Hey buddy. What's up?"

Zane's got some bike race or another Saturday and has tickets. Lewis has no intention of going, but maybe one of his friends will want them. Rikki's never one to pass up free stuff, especially if she can use the opportunity to jeer at Zane. The two of them have had a mutual contempt for each other almost since the day they met. It's usually really funny, but occasionally it gets out of hand. Lewis is never the one to try to step in on that; that would be suicide.

"So, what's up with you and the loser crew?" Zane gestures to Rikki, Will, and Bella behind him. Charlotte probably went to get something to eat or use the bathroom, because she's nowhere to be seen.

"Absolutely none of your business," Lewis says. "Piss off."

Zane raises his hands in mock surprise (he's definitely not surprised). "Whoa man, calm down. It was just a joke." Zane laughs. "You can't seriously be hanging out with them."

"One more chance," Lewis threatens, "Piss off." He's never nearly this confrontational with Zane, and it's giving him this thrill that's hard to shake off. He usually just deals with him until he leaves, but he's so sick and tired of him. Maybe it's that he's actually got people who can back him up on his threats, but he's been feeling a lot more confident recently.

"Oh, Lewis here's grown a pair. I'm just trying to be friendly, man, no need to try and strangle a guy." He's going to strangle Zane if he doesn't shut up and leave him alone.

Zane wasn't always a jerk. When they were kids he was a genuinely nice kid, but some combination of power from his money and being a halfway decent racer blew his ego to the moon sometime in year seven. He thought he was too good for his old friends, and even after his new friends left he still hasn't quite gotten a hold of not being a complete walnut.

"Hey, Lewis, Charlotte wanted me to ask you if you wanted anything from the café," Will interjects before Lewis can get violent. It's a good thing that he did, too, because Lewis is pretty sure Zane will always be able to beat him in a fight. Maybe Will saw it coming, the way Lewis' fist started clenching and how Zane kept goading him on. Either way, it's a good thing he's here.

"I'm good," Lewis says. He's not, but he's not going to punch Zane in the face (without warning).

"I'm Will." Will sticks his hand out for Zane to shake.

"Zane." Zane doesn't hesitate (but Zane isn't one to hesitate). "Nice to meet you, mate." Zane doesn't seem all that concerned that Will's basically sticking his head where it doesn't belong.

Charlotte calls from the door of the café, three smoothies and a scone in her arms, and Lewis forces a smile. "Gotta go man, see you around." He doesn't wait for Zane to reply, but he can hear him and Will exchanging 'nice to meet ya's and 'later's before the other boy catches up with Lewis.

"Well he seems like an arsehole." Will says nonchalantly as the two of them sit back down at their table.

"Understatement of the century." Rikki says. She's sipping on her smoothie and reading a book. Lewis hasn't ever heard of it, but she seems interested (and it's so hard to keep her attention) so it must be good. She laughs. "He's a complete dick. I'm surprised you're still friends with him."

Lewis shrugs. "We used to be mates, and he thinks we still are."

"What happened?" Bella asks.

Lewis really doesn't want to explain. "Shit went down and he became a jerk. His friends leave and them bam, I'm his friend again."

Bella doesn't have anything to say to that, so she just sort of looks at her smoothie. Lewis needs to change the topic.

"So I've been thinking, no one's really explored Mako's reefs."

Bella beams at him, and Charlotte is off to arrange for scuba gear from Evie before Lewis can say anything.

* * *

><p>So I'm officially moving update day to Monday (though I'm not sure if I ever announced my friday update schedule here) as it works a lot better with my schedule than Friday did. Anyways, we're slowly chugging along as far as plot goes. It's going pretty slow with this whole changing perspectives one-character-per-chapter thing, but no worries, it's all planned out and everything. We're almost to the big moment where things start going downhill, so bear with me.<p> 


	9. Chapter 8

_Days in the past, but not many_

It was weird, what happened on Mako. Rikki's sure Will is trying to figure it out, but Rikki's not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. It's amazing, how free she feels. It's nothing like kickboxing, where she's limited by gravity and having to breathe. Now she can push her self harder and longer, spiraling round and around and timing herself to see how fast she can go. Two days ago she spent the day swimming as far south as she could. She made it to Brisbane and back again by midnight, with a little time in between to check out the wharf and the modern art museum.

It's weird, but wonderful, because even on land Rikki's lung capacity has increased. She can go harder and longer in kickboxing, too, and she's not nearly as tired when her class rolls around.

She's had more energy to do things, so she ends up having more free time on her hands. This free time gets translated into hanging-out-with-Bella time, because Rikki hasn't seen the other girl nearly as much as she used to.

It's one of the drawbacks, not sharing this with Bella. But it's not her problem, and if Rikki tells even one person, even Bella, it could get out, and the last place Rikki wants to be after all this freedom is in a tank barely big enough to move in.

But it's nice to hang out with Bella, so hang out they do, at the beach or the Ocean Café or even just at Bella's house. (Bella's never been over to Rikki's house. She's not going to invite her, not when Bella has it so much better. Rikki's been working too hard to save up for her future to do much in terms of fixing her place up, and there's only so much Dad will do.)

Anyways, it's nice to have a friend like Bella, and that's exactly why they're at the Ocean Café now, having ordered smoothies and talking about their respective extracurriculars. Rikki's got kickboxing and her class, and Bella has a watercolor class every Wednesday and Thursday. Neither of them are too time consuming, but they'll be year twelves, and Rikki's sure she'll be asking for help come finals.

"Come one, it'll be good for you," Rikki argues. "Help your lung capacity, and who knows, you might just need to use it some day." She's trying to convince Bella to join her kickboxing class. It'd be nice to have another girl there her age as opposed to the two twenty-something year-olds and the handful of sweaty, middle-aged men of all body types.

There's James, who's in his mid-forties and used to compete small-time. He's extremely fit and usually the one to instruct the class if Mrs. Coggs isn't there. He's better than pretty much everyone except Mrs. Coggs, and Rikki recons he goes to the class just to have something to do. It's not like he learns anything there.

Dakota is a few years older than Rikki's and she's not embarrassed to admit that she had a massive crush on him when she first started. She didn't see him outside of class, though, and there was never really any time to talk, though, so that eventually faded. And good thing, too, because Dakota has been dating Kelsey since they were year tens.

Kelsey is the only other girl in Rikki's class, and she's the same age as Dakota. They're similar body sizes, so she'll usually pair up with Rikki for partner stuff. She's really friendly, and she's been giving Rikki advice on uni.

Rikki doesn't remember anyone else's names, but it's still a decently tight-knit group. Rikki's just bad with names.

But it would be great to have Bella there with her.

"I really can't," Bella argues. "We've got our year twelve stuff coming up. Though you could come to painting with me."

Rikki might have considered it, if it was something like acrylic or oils-paints, because even if she's never really done art before outside of school, she's decent, with great hand-eye coordination that comes with the body-awareness required by hand-to-hand combat. Watercolors are a no, though, because the risk is too great. It would probably be a blast, but Rikki has to worry about things Bella has never dreamed of.

Thankfully, Rikki doesn't have to come up with an elaborate excuse that won't hurt Bella's feelings because the waiter comes with their smoothies. "A wild berry smoothie," he says, setting Rikki's drink down on the coaster closest to Rikki, "and a watermelon juice."

Rikki doesn't even recognize that the drink's slipped out of the waiter's hand until Bella stands up suddenly, dripping with sticky, slightly pink liquid.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Rikki demands, standing up to discreetly avoid the stream of juice that's slowly making its way across the table towards her.

"I'm sorry, look, I'll get you another one, and they're on the house, okay?" The waiter's fumbling over himself to start wiping the table off. "I'm really sorry, I'll be right back with more towels."

Rikki shakes her head. He must be new, because she's never seen him here before. She'll ask David the next time she goes inside to order. The girl at the little clothing corner might know, too. "Are you okay, Bells?"

Bella isn't there. Maybe she went inside to try to wash herself off, but then she remembers there aren't bathrooms in the café. She asks the closest people if they saw where Bella went, and they shrug until one of them mentions that he saw her run down to the docks. Rikki has no idea what Bella is doing down there, but whatever. There's a hose down there, maybe she's trying to wash off.

It's a respectable-looking dock, the kind that floats so it can rise and fall with the tides. Rikki hasn't ever come here by boat before, but she's been down here with Will and Bella before, so she knows where the hose is, and she's completely baffled when Bella's nowhere to be found.

She couldn't have dimply vanished, and even if there had been a boat here for her to take, Rikki would have heard it, and a smoothie to the chest isn't any reason to run off anyways. Not unless…

Her thoughts are interrupted when the dock starts rocking from a speeding boat's wake. She goes to step back and then winces as she feels her foot land in a puddle.

There's nowhere to go but into the water, but she's going to be as discreet about it as possible. She's got ten seconds, and that's plenty of time to slip into the water before the lightshow starts.

It's close, but Rikki manages to get her head underwater before her tail appears, and she pulls herself under the dock. She has no clue what to do from here except to maybe weave through the boats and hope it's deep enough that no one sees her, but it's busy right now, and the chances of her being able to get away are slim to none. So she just sits there, clutching the algae-covered beam keeping the dock above her from floating away and trying not to move too much. She doesn't know when the next time she'll be able to surface is, so she has to conserve her oxygen.

She's about five minutes away from having to take a breath when a flash of movement catches her eye.

It's Bella, and holy crap she can see her. It's not until a few seconds later that Rikki notices that Bella's got a tail, and by that point, Bells is sure to have noticed her.

Rikki just floats there, staring, and eventually Bella just lets out what could be the underwater equivalent of a bemused sigh and gestures for her to follow. There's a tattered sheet of tarp dangling from a beam of the jetty, and Bella vanishes inside.

Whatever Rikki was expecting, this isn't it. It looks like an underwater bedroom, with a fishing net hammock and some cool-looking shells lining the beams. There are three clear tubes dangling from the ceiling that end in black caps. They go up into the jetty above them.

Bella comes back from the corner she was rummaging in with two underwater writing tablets Rikki recognizes from the website where Will gets—or used to get—a lot of his diving stuff.

_How long?_ Bella's says.

_A few days, maybe a week,_ Rikki writes, before scrubbing it off. _You?_

Bella looks like she's trying to remember, so it must be a long time, but Rikki isn't expecting the answer that follows: _almost nine years._

Rikki doesn't know what to say to that, so she just gestures around the little hideout, a questioning look in her face. It's somewhat impressive, and almost certainly not natural

_I made it. I made one in every town I lived. _Bella sets down her tablet and reaches for one of the tubes before exhaling and biting the end. They're air tubes, Rikki realizes, and she becomes aware of the growing burning in her lungs. She doesn't know how long she's been under, but Bella must spend a lot of time here to need something to allow her to stay under longer than she could on one lungful.

Rikki grabs a tube and tries to bite it, and her mouth is filled with bubbles. She races out of the room-grotto-thing and surfaces outside of the jetty, coughing. She just barely makes it under again before a head pops over the railing, followed by another and another, but she's pretty sure no one saw her.

She swims back into Bella's nest to find the other girl silently laughing at her. Bella eventually calms down, and then hands Rikki one of the tablets.

_Take it slowly,_ it says, and Bella gestures towards the oxygen tubes.

At this point Rikki thinks the entire things is stupid. Why bother, when there's fresh air just outside? But what if they can't? What if there's some reason they can't leave, if someone's hunting them and knows their human identities?

It's still stupid, but Rikki reaches for a tube, and this time, only tries to let the smallest amount of air in possible. She'll get the hang of this.

An hour later and the two of them are at Bella's sitting on her bed and talking about her past.

"I've met a lot of merpeople, actually," she says. "Most of them were born that way, but I've met a couple turned ones like us." Rikki's fascinated, and she urges Bella to continue. "Born mermaids tend to have pods, unless they've done something to warrant being kicked out. Turned mermaids usually are either loners or have a small group of other turned. Pod mermaids don't trust the turned, and depending on how land-locked they are, some of the turned don't even know born mermaids exist."

"You've met people from both groups, right?" Rikki asks. She adjusts her position at the foot of Bella's bed to make her self a bit more comfortable. She has a feeling she'll be here for a while.

Bella winces. "Turned mermaids and most mermen are pretty alright. Mermen don't really make the distinction between born and turn. If they're born that way, they spend the first part of their lives on land. They're a lot more in-tune with the human world than the pods, who I'm convinced just want to pretend humans don't exist.

"I ran into a mermaid pod for the first time about a year after I turned, so I was pretty young, about ten. They didn't know what to do with me at first, because I didn't behave at all like a born mermaid the same age, and they didn't know that there was a pool anywhere nearby.

"Once they realized I was turned, there was a big movement to take me with them, basically kidnapping me. The only reason they didn't is because their council head was really prejudiced against the turned, so they left sometime while I was sleeping. They were nomadic, so just getting up and leaving wasn't as big a deal. I've been chased out of pod territory before, and I had to pretend I'd lost my powers or something until my parents moved us again.

"I did make a few friends in the pods when I was younger, and they're probably still out there somewhere, but I've never really felt the need to go looking for them. They're fine on their own; they don't need me.

"The mermen have pretty much all been pretty cool, once they found out I was turned. The born ones have this huge rivalry with the pod mermaids, but I guess they see turned mermaids as people they can recruit to their cause. I have no idea how they communicate with each other when they're all so spread out." Bella shrugs. "But they're cool on their own. There aren't a lot of turned merpeople out there, mostly because the pods protect the pools. The one I turned in must have been long abandoned, because there was no sign of a stationary pod."

"Wow," is all Rikki manages to say. "So I guess you're kind of an expert on this, huh?" It's amazing how much Bella's experienced. Even if she wasn't a mermaid, she's lived all over the world, in places Rikki can't even imagine.

"I've been around the block," Bella smiles. "So, do you want to learn how to use your powers?"

Hell yes she does.

Sorry it's a few days late, he weekend was hectic for me, and these past few days have been too. To make up for that, it's a few hundred words longer, and the next chapter will still be up Monday. That's where things start happening, and I'm having a lot of fun writing it so far (the two hundred words I have down).

I've also noticed te formatting on i1 and 5 are wonky, so I'll be fixing that as soon as this is posted. Thanks for reading!

-Bathyal


	10. Chapter 9

"I know you're just here to keep an eye on me."

If Evie heard him, she's not acknowledging him. The two of them are at the beach, looking for suspicious activity. Neither of the new merpeople are here, but Cam's not going to tell Evie that. He's extremely comfortable with his position as the Only Person Who Knows What's Going On.

She's not just here to keep an eye on him, though. She knows he knows about the new ones, and she thinks it's her fault, which Cam can use to his advantage. No, she's trying to see if he's going to do anything about it, which for now, he's not.

He's off duty today, so he can actually enjoy the beach without worrying about people drowning. He keeps looking out to the water out of habit, though. He might as well keep an eye on things, even if the boys have everything covered already.

The atmosphere at the beach is one of the reasons he wanted to start lifesaving in the first place. He loves the crowds (though eventually enough is enough when it comes to screaming kids) and the crash of the waves and being able to help people when things go wrong. Zac used to say Cam just liked to feel in control. He wasn't wrong.

But he's wasting time here, and no matter how much he needs Evie to believe that he's not involved in any of this, he actually has a life outside this fish people stuff, and his mum needs him to pick up groceries.

"I'm going to be frank with you," Evie says after he voices this. "I don't trust you. Zac probably doesn't trust you either, and Nixie sure as hell doesn't trust you anymore."

"What, do you wanna see the text?" His flip phone's a few years old, but his mum, for whatever reason, prefers texting over calling, so he has a good number of texts per month on his plan. Not that Telstra makes it cheap for him to buy them every month (because his dad's not going to pay for anything except his minutes), but they come in handy in situations like this.

Evie nods after a moment of hesitation, and he hands his phone over. She looks it over and then nods, and he takes his phone back and shoves it into his pocket.

"I'm off then, good luck with the search."

Evie doesn't say goodbye, just goes back to people watching, so Cam starts walking into town.

The shop is pretty busy for a Thursday, and while in the cereal aisle, he runs into a certain mermaid. Rikki doesn't recognize him, and he doesn't expect her to. She's debating between two different brands, and she pays Cam no notice.

"The weather's been pretty good recently, hasn't it?"

Rikki hums in agreement, but doesn't really look at him.

"Mako must be beautiful, especially with the low humidity we've been having. I've always wanted to see what the reefs look like."

Rikki freezes. There we go.

"I suppose. They're supposed to be really sharp, though. I don't think going out there is the best idea. You might scrape a hole in your hull."

"Ah, I dunno. Don't have to worry about that if you're swimming."

He realizes he's made a mistake as soon as he sees her shift in posture. She's a fighter, teaching kids in her free time, and she can probably knock his lights out before he has the chance to blink. Shit shit shit.

"I mean, it would take a while, but if you had a day to do it and a boat nearby to refill oxygen tanks and stuff, it wouldn't be that hard."

She relaxes a bit, but her "sure," sounds skeptical. She's walking away, about to check out, Cam realizes, and he has to do something before he loses his chance. He grabs a random box off the shelf, and he only has about half of the things on his mum's list, but he can get the rest later. He rushes himself though self-checkout, frustration growing when it takes three tries for the machine to scan his tea.

Cam catches up with Rikki right before she reaches the little path between the railroad and the back yards of houses that line the street. "Wait!" he calls, and Rikki spins around, obviously annoyed.

"What do you want?" she practically snarls at him, and Cam thinks about rethinking his plan, but it's too late to back out now.

"I know you're a mermaid."

He doesn't even register her punch until he's flat on his back in a parking lot, groceries sprawling out from his bag.

"Woah woah woah, hang on!" he says as she shifts her weight to her front foot. He holds his arms in front of his face and turns his head to the side. He definitely doesn't want to get hit in the face again. Damn, that hurt. "I just want to help you!"

Rikki doesn't answer, but when Cam lowers his arms and looks at her, she's got her arms crossed and all her weight on one leg. It's safe to assume she's going to hear him out before trying to punch him again.

"Okay." Cam stands up and brushes off his pants. "I know about you and Will because I was the one who got you off Mako the night you turned."

"Why?" Rikki asks.

"There were people coming, merpeople that were looking for you. They felt it when you turned, and if I hadn't gotten there, who knows what would have happened."

Rikki shifts to her other foot. "There are more around here?" she asks. "What do they want?"

Cam shrugs. He knows what they want, but it adds to the effect. "Mako, probably. There aren't many of them, but they're pretty powerful. I'm guessing that if they find you, they'll try to take you powers away."

Rikki takes a step back, and after an instant, squares her shoulders. "They can do that?"

"I don't think so. They've tried before and it didn't work, but who knows. They're definitely going to try."

The fish-girls probably can't actually take away anyone's power. They've tried so hard to get Zac back to normal, and that would have failed anyways if he hadn't interfered. If they can't turn that idiot back, they sure as hell won't be able to turn Rikki and Will, who are much more aware and ten time less gullible. They're not totally inconvincible, though, and he needs them to be naïve in order to pull this off. If his luck holds, Bella hasn't told Rikki about much, and she won't know about the Mako pod.

Rikki looks at him for a rather long moment before sighing. "Fine. I'll trust you, but I'm going to have to talk to the others. I'll find you when we're ready to talk." And with that, she turns around and vanishes down the path. There's no use in following her, so Cam just starts picking up his groceries and putting them back in his bag.

He'll give her time; she needs it. But he thinks he's got her, and if he's convinced Rikki, it'll be easy to convince Will.

Cam was not counting on Bella. Sure, he eventually figured out she's a mermaid, and he knows she's lived practically everywhere, but he didn't think she'd be this well-versed in mermaid culture. Hell, she knows the subtle differences between turned and born merman culture, and there's no doubt she's run into her own fair share of mermaids. He needs to tweak his plan a bit.

"They're outcasts," Cam explains. When he was told this morning that he'd finally get access to the oh-so-secret New Fish People club, he had honestly forgotten about Bella.

And Charlotte, hoo boy. She doesn't know much about the culture, but she's got fifty years worth of stories from her aunt about curious turned girls who thought they were the only fish in the sea and happened to be friends with a budding marine biologist. She may not know about the pods, but she can tell you down to the hundredth of a second how long it takes to change with various lotions and skin oils, how long a mermaid can swim non stop, and how intense the moonsickness gets in a person based on how long they've been a mermaid, how old they were when they were turned, and their moon and sun signs.

Lewis is completely clueless about everything, but he's got logic on his side, and after getting over the original shock, he's come pretty far with meshing science and magic. Cam honestly has never talked to him all that much as his marks have always been decent enough to get away with not needing a tutor, but he knows who he is. The guy is practically legend in the science part of the student body.

"And their pod just, what, _left?_" Bella asks.

Cam can do nothing but nod. "As soon as the pod caught wind of Zac they hightailed it out of here, pun intended. The girls got thrown out for consorting with humans."

Bella rolls her eyes. "Well of course," she says, "there aren't a lot more offenses punishable by expulsion in southern pods. They literally have like two rules: protect your home surf and don't reveal yourself to humans."

"Yeah, well, turns out one of them is David's girlfriend, not that he knows."

"David?" Charlotte chokes. "Ocean Café David? That means Sirena's one of them."

Bella huffs. "I knew there was something off about her. I just couldn't put my finger on it because most born mermaids don't come on land, and turned tend to be good at hiding it."

"And so her friends?" Rikki asks. "The two quiet ones? They're the other ones?"

"Yep. Lyla and Nixie." Cam leans back on the couch in Will's room. They, or Rikki, decided it would be the safest place to talk, with no parents, a private location, and an easy escape rout for the more hydrodynamic of the bunch. It's a surprisingly comfortable couch considering Will lives in a literal boat dock.

"And what about Zac, how does he all play into this?" Lewis asks. He's leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, and Cam knows that if he makes one slip up he'll be done, so he considers his next words carefully.

"Zac is… an interesting case," Cam starts. The pause seems right. "You know how born mermen grow up, right?"

"They've got host families, adopted at a young age, and they live mostly on land once they discover what they are. Then they jump around from coastal town to coastal town, looking for signs of merfolk activity," Bella answers.

She knows more than Cam does, so he just rolls with it. "Well, that's Zac. He's actually been here for about five years, and I've known him almost as long. He's been looking to get his hands on Mako."

"A _twelve-year-old_ moved here to take over a whole _island_ from a pod of powerful mermaids?" Charlotte asks. She's skeptical, Cam can tell.

"They start young," Cam says, shrugging.

"And so instead of fighting him the three mermaids joined him?" Charlotte asks.

"Well they did fight him at first," Cam explains, "but eventually they kind of realized it was pointless and teamed up."

"So why are you coming to us?" Will says. He hasn't spoken up this entire conversation, and Cam almost forgot he was there. Almost being the key word there.

Cam doesn't know what he thinks of Will. Sure, the guy's a crazy-talented swimmer, or was, Cam guesses, and that probably translated well when he turned, but Cam has had maybe two classes with the boy in all of high school. He just knows that Will's quiet, and that doesn't tell him much at all.

He we go. Cam's got one shot at this, and if he wants them to trust him, he's got to deliver this right. "The reason Zac wants Mako so bad is that it's full of ancient mermen relics from the last war. They're supposedly pretty powerful, and who doesn't want a power boost ever now and then. I destroyed the Trident before it became a problem for the town, but there's plenty more there, and there's only so much a human can do."

The following silence isn't like the one that happens when someone's thinking. It's more like a morning, pregnant but unforced. It's almost theatrical the way Will just sits there, poker face on and watching him.

"So you want me to go up against him?" Will eventually asks.

Cam half-shrugs with one shoulder. "Kind of. What I want you to do is to do that and create a diversion. I've been trying to get into the moon pool for months. Frankly, if it weren't for me keeping them all busy, you would have never gotten in either. I need you to distract them on the night of the next full moon just long enough for me to get into the moon pool. Maybe then I'll be strong enough to protect the island from him." He turns his head off to the side when he says it, just loud enough that it can be heard, but quiet enough to make it see like he hadn't intended it to be.

It seems to have worked, because the next thing Cam knows, Will is standing up and crossing his arms over his chest. "Alright then. Where do we start?"


End file.
